Monday morning pick me up.

Monday morning, not enough sleep, to much work for too little pay but I humming this tune and it’s keeping me going (hope it helps you too)

Kickstart my heart? (hope it never stops…)

I’ve been slowly formulating a kick starter campaign for one of my children’s projects. And it is completely never racking. I haven’t yet launched it. This is odd because as any artist I am used failure. It is my friend, a chance for me to rise like the phoenix and dust off the prose that sully my wings.

This though is never-racking.So I’m asking for advice? What would you like to see in a Kickstarter campaign? What has or has not worked for you? what other funding tools have you used?

The spastic love child of Axl Rose and Sylvia Path

Last week was the week I said, I was going to release my E-Book. Then I ended up getting called in for an interview for teaching a playwriting class and realized that I had an erasure poem I wanted to submit and the deadline was fast approaching…

so last week was not the week.

But as Scarlett O’Hara, a heroine that I despise would say, “tomorrow is another day.”

So barring anything crazy, this week will be the week.

But back to the erasure poem, I received work yesterday that it will be included in the project (I’ll post more later.) (I also got the job teaching kids play-writing! expect a blog on that later.)

I’m super excited. This was my first attempt at an erasure poem.  Erasure poems, for those who don’t know, is  a form of found poetry or found art created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem.

The project is going to be available on Silver Birch Press.

I found this sort of work, freeing in its constrictions. The project had a specific constraints on the topic as well as the page number you could pick. It was a puzzle for the artistic mind!

It also helped with my writer’s block. 🙂 I really do suggest it for people who can’t think of anything to write or who like to pretend like me that they are visual artists as well.

I think I might take a few books and just have at it. Who knows maybe I’ll come up with

 

When words aren’t enough…..

Note: written during the weekend of another Hallmark holiday, Father’s Day, where I find myself lost once again so I take to the paper and write something, I’ll be rewriting for the rest of my life.

I found myself in the sterile room,

snow blind, a blizzard

of you.

as the doctor’s tongue snaked

charmed out symbols, I coated

myself with words: selfishness,

bravery and faith.

and the silent bargains serenade

angels, the bleat from

my lips to the eletronic  pulse

… . … . … . … .

You need a lung

but my words were dull,

unable to cut the

supple folds of my

skin. You needed

everything

 

all I could give you was a sonnet.

Wanted: Cartoonist/graphic artist for a kick a$$ project

As I previously posted, I have been looking for a graphic artist. I have been talking to one for my children’s book, but am still looking for one for my comic

A little more about my vision:

I’m looking to do an online comic with at least a print base version for the first edition.

 

The premise of the comic is a sort of sci-fi steam-punk tale that weaves the truth and myth surrounding scientist  Nikola Tesla in modern day society (also weaves current issues). If interested I can send you the first script.

Artistically, I’m open to any interpretation that the artist may want to take.

I have already formulated a Kickstarter Campaign and has people will to help with marketing, etc. Also I have a lot of friend over social media who have already express interest in donating and supporting this campaign.

I believe in complete partnerships (any profits would be split 50/50)

If you are interested please email me at reestanf@gmail.com

Thanks!

 

 

A monday pick up

Repeat to yourself: You are an artist. You are an artist…..

Happy National Shakespearian day

Go get your bard on!

When your give birth to your literary babies

Poetry may be dead, but poets aren’t!

I woke up on Monday with two bittersweet emails. Two of my poems had been accepted for publication in Cool Etc! a few new online journal. One of which was a baby of  mine, Loaded Gun, Twice Fired. I wrote this poem about 8 years ago (wow I’m getting old) for a class in poetry. The assignment was to finish the Emily Dickinson poem, My life has stood a loaded gun. I ended up with a poem that I loved that stood a lone or in tandem to the original piece. But after I got out of college, I had a heck of a time trying to publish it, because it was “too traditionally.” I refused to give up, and now, my baby shall see the light of day. It’s an odd feeling though, to be done with a piece I tweaked and changed some many times throughout the year, but greatly satisfying. 
In addition, my poem, The river bed, was also published! This wasn’t a baby of mine, rather a poem I wrote while spending a day walking along the Mackinaw river.

It’s pleasures like this that make a rainy Wednesday much more enjoyable. I hope you liked my work.

First publication of the new year

Good afternoon, Rachael!

 

I wanted to drop a quick note to you with good news!  Your monologue “The New Girl” has confirmed entry into Volume III of ‘interJACtions: Monologues from the Heart of Human Nature.’  Congratulations!

This greeted me in my inbox today!

I was very excited to have this monologue published. It was originally a short story which I wrote during an exercise at University of Indiana.  It’s a dramatized piece about my experience of switching from a private Lutheran school (15 people in my class, all girls) to a public school.

Hopefully this year will continue to be a productive year for publishing (both indie and traditionally) for me!

Anyway, sorry for the brevity of this post, but I wanted to share the good news!

Write for a free house

I have mixed emotions over the idea behind Write A House but I thought I would share it with you, my readers, because it might be of use to some of you.

It’s fairly simple. If you are a writer, you can apply for a free house in Detroit.  The up side, you can get a house rent free (minus utilities, taxes and with contingent on some other rules.) The downside you have to live in Detroit which has become a fairly crime-ridden city.

One of the houses remolded for an artist

But someone has to turn around Detroit don’t they? And hey if successful, maybe Detroit will turn into a little piece of art heaven which you can be a part of. For poor starving artists like myself, well, it would give you a roof over you head and a place to write.

You can check out writeahouse at their website. They have more detail about the application process and rules that apply.